* Japan's Nikkei slumps 3%, South Korea's KOSPI down almost

4%

* Selloff comes after big gains for the quarter to record

highs

* Nasdaq futures slip 0.6%, yen languishes near 40-year lows

* Oil hovers near four-month lows; gold down 11% this month

By Stella Qiu

SYDNEY, June 26 (Reuters) - Asian shares eased from record

highs on Friday as hefty price hikes from Apple ( AAPL ) showed the

downside of the boom in chip demand, while only the threat of

Japanese intervention kept the yen from hitting 40-year lows.

Brent crude futures slipped 0.5% to $74.89 a barrel,

having bounced 2% from four-month lows overnight on reports that

a ship was attacked when exiting the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran

has warned vessels against taking routes that it had not

approved, though more stranded oil tankers have crossed the key

waterway with the help of military escorts, easing supply

concerns.

Nasdaq futures declined 0.6% in Asia. The Nasdaq

swung lower overnight after Apple ( AAPL ) slid 6.1% after

announcing price hikes for iPads and MacBooks to counter surging

memory and storage chip costs, wiping about $250 billion off its

market value. Microsoft ( MSFT ) is raising prices for its Xbox

gaming consoles by up to $150 worldwide.

That tempered investor enthusiasm about a blowout earnings

report from chipmaker Micron this week, whose shares

surged almost 16% overnight to a record high.

"Micron tells us where the profits are. Apple ( AAPL ) tells us where

the inflation is," said Nigel Green, CEO at deVere Group, a

financial advisory firm.

"The race to build AI infrastructure has become so intense

that demand for advanced memory is outstripping supply," he

said. "Apple's ( AAPL ) decision to raise prices is an early warning that

inflation is finding a new route into the economy."

Analysts also say that month-end and quarter-end rebalancing

flows might have contributed to the weakness and choppy prices

in big tech companies, which have outperformed for much of the

second quarter.

On Friday, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares

outside Japan fell 1.7%, bringing its weekly

loss to 3.4%, having hit a record high just on Monday. It was

down 1.6% for the month but up a whopping 24% for the quarter.

Japan's Nikkei slumped 3% and was headed for a

weekly drop of 1.3%. It has climbed 6% for the month and has

surged 38% for the quarter.

South Korea's KOSPI dropped 3.5% and was down 5% for

the week. It has surged a monstrous 70% in the second quarter.

Chinese blue-chips fell 1% and Hong Kong's Hang

Seng index lost 1.3%.

YEN WEAK

In the currency markets, the yen teetered near its

weakest level against the dollar in 40 years at 161.82, well

beyond the 160 level that many see as a line in the sand for

Japanese authorities.

It found little relief even as a U.S. inflation reading met

forecasts and traders trimmed bets for a rate hike from the

Federal Reserve in September.

Separate data also showed the U.S. economy grew faster than

previously estimated in the first quarter thanks to a downward

revision to imports, but consumer spending almost stalled,

casting doubt on growth momentum in the second quarter.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback's

strength against a basket of six major peers, held at 101.46,

not far from its strongest level since May 2025. It has risen

2.6% this month.

Treasury yields were steady on Friday after slipping a

little overnight. 2-year yields held at 4.1250%,

having eased 2 basis points on Thursday, while ten-year yields

were little changed at 4.4020%, having hit a nearly

two-month low of 4.3627% in the previous session.

Precious metals have had a rough month, with spot gold

down 11% to $4,020 an ounce and spot silver

sliding 24% to $57.3 an ounce.